North Carolina Federation of Republican Women Americanism Essay Contest Process and Procedures 2012-2013 Essay Topic: What the foundational principles of The Bill of Rights mean to me With our school age children being bombarded on every side with misinformation, distractions, entitlements and blatant lies that are eroding the foundations of this nation, among these the U.S. Constitution and The Bill of Rights, the choice was made to focus on the Bill of Rights and what these rights mean to the future citizens of this nation. As never before in our nation s history, the assaults upon our citizenry and an individual citizen s rights under the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights are being called into question almost daily. Either these inalienable rights are ours as citizens or they are not; it is our opinion that this has become vital knowledge for the future citizens of our great nation to KNOW for a certainty what these rights are, that they are inalienable and how to exercise them. To this end the Essay Topic for the 2012-2013 contest has been selected. For the 9 th NCFRW Americanism Essay Contest, NCFRW is asking middle school children to study the Bill of Rights, its origins and what these rights mean to each participant personally, it is our hope these rights shall be indelibly stamped upon their memories to be exercised throughout their adult lives. CONTEST OVERVIEW Students will have the opportunity to write and submit essays to their local club between now in 2012 and February 2013. The local clubs will review and select a winner whose essay will be forwarded to their Region by March 1, 2013. Each Region will review submitted essays in their region and will select one winner. The winning essay is then sent to the State Federation. There it will be reviewed with the other four Regional winners. The State wide winner will receive a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond. CONTEST RULES The NCFRW Essay Contests is open to any student in 6 th, 7 th or 8 th grade during the 2012-2013 school year, is a resident of North Carolina and is (1) enrolled in any school in North Carolina or (2) is enrolled in a base school overseas where a parent is service in the U.S. Military. Schools include public schools, private schools, charter schools and home schools. All essays submitted should: Address the chosen topic as stated for the contest. Be typed, double spaced and at least 500 words in length, but not to exceed 550 words in length. (Word count is to be listed at the end of the essay.) Student is to include a cover page containing the student s name, name of school and teacher for social Studies. Pages are to be numbered. The essay must be submitted in English and be the original work by the submitting student. Students may briefly but accurately note quotes or facts. ~ PAGE 1 ~
Be submitted to the local essay chairman or postmarked by February 15, 2013. No entries will be returned; therefore, it is recommended that the student make a copy of his/her essay before submission. An official entry form should be attached as the first page with the cover sheet containing student s data as second page. Students are permitted to enter the 2012-2013 Americanism Essay Contest for 6 th, 7 th and 8 th graders only once each year. However, if the student has won the State contest in a previous year, s/he is not eligible to enter in succeeding years. Essays will be submitted to and initially judged by local clubs. First place winners from each local club will then be judged within one of the five state Regions. The five state Region winners will compete for the State prize of a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond. The local club will appoint contest judges and their decisions will be final. The North Carolina Federation of Republican Women will appoint Region and State judges and their decisions will be final. At each phase of judging (local, regional and state) the following elements will be considered: How well does the essay address the topic? Is the content well developed? Does the author incorporate his or her own point of view? Is there a clear thought process? Are any quotes or facts cited accurately? Is there originality? (50%) Are grammar (includes punctuation and sentence structure) and spelling correct? (20%) Is the conclusion clearly stated? Were the rules of the contest followed? (IF NOT essay is disqualified.) The author grants to the North Carolina Federation of the Republican Women the first publication rights, except for local newspapers, to all submitted essays for an anthology. Publication is completely at the discretion of the NCFRW. After such publication or twelve months after the State winner is announced (whichever occurs first) all rights revert to the author. Essays with the official entry form attached and/or inquiries should be submitted to the local club s Essay Chairman. A copy of these contest rules along with entry form will be provided separately for distribution to schools, students, etc. when soliciting contest entries. Local Club Contest Each club may sponsor a local contest. If there is only one club in the county then the club is asked to target all applicable schools within the county. If there are more than on e club in a particular county then the clubs are asked to determine which schools each will target so that there is no overlap or any multiple entries. If there is no club within a particular county, a surrounding county may offer to include that county. If no club is available, then the Region Vice President will solicit and accept entries on behalf of the county in conjunction with the NCFRW Essay Chairman. Region Contest If it is necessary to submit essays directly to the Region because there is no local club available to sponsor the contest, then the Region Vice President and her judging committee will review and select winners for the county as if there had actually been a sponsoring local club. For these counties, the Region will name a first, second and third place winner, but is not obligated to present any material prizes. The first place winner is then considered alongside all other first place winners ~ Page 2 ~
submitted by local clubs to the Region. The Region Vice President and her judging committee will select one winner for the region and forward the winning essay to the NCFRW Essay Chairman. No material prize will be awarded for Region winners. State Contest Once all five Regions submit winning essays to the State level, the NCFRW Essay Chairman and judging committee will review the submissions, selecting one overall State winner. There is only one State winner. Rules of Judging Content and Composition All phases of the contest (local, regional and state) will be judged with the same rules for content and composition. Each essay may receive up to 100% or 100 points. Percentages are awarded according to the following: How well does the essay address the topic? (15%) Is the content well developed? Does the author incorporate his/her own point of view? Is there a clear thought process? Are quotes or facts cited accurately? Is there originality? Are grammar (includes punctuation and sentence structure) and spelling correct? (20%) Is the conclusion clearly stated? (15%) Were the rules of the contest followed? (If NOT, the essay is disqualified.) Judges For local contests, the local organization may select its judges according to the club s defined criteria. The only requirement the State makes on local judges is that none have a relative (son/daughter, stepson/stepdaughter, niece/nephew, brother/sister grandson/granddaughter, etc.) participating in the contest. Such judges should be replaced. Additionally, no person who will judge at one level should be appointed a judge for another level. For example, anyone judging on the State level may not judge on the local or region level. Region Judging committees will be composed as follows: Region Vice President Region Member-at-Large, a NCFRW member from the region who is from a different county than the Region Vice President. Two elected Republican officials, each form different counties from both/each other and the Region Vice President and Region Member-at-Large. State Judging Committee will be composed as follows: NCFRW Essay Chairman NCFRW President Two elected Republican officials, each from different Regions from both/each other and the NCFRW President and Essay Chairman. Format of Submissions All submitted essays should be typed, double spaced and in English. (See additional information under Contest Rules. ) Essays may be submitted via: ~ Page 3 ~
Mail: All mailed entries must be postmarked on or before February 15, 2013. E-Mail: Clubs may elect to receive submissions via e-mail. For such submissions, the date stamp by the recipient s e-mail system will be recognized as satisfactorily meeting submission requirements. A copy of such should be attached to the essay if not noted otherwise. Neither the NCFRW nor any of its affilitate organizations will be accountable for electronic submissions whose format is altered during transmission (ie. Double spacing becomes single spacing.) Hand delivered: If the essay is hand delivered the collecting party for the Federation or affiliate should note the receipt date in ink on the back of the envelope or essay. Depending on the resources available to the sponsoring local club, e-mail and/or hand delivered submissions may be excluded if contestants are so advised in the local contest rules. All clubs will accept appropriately postmarked mailed submissions. Timetables and Deadlines Now til Feb. 15 th, 13 Students write essays on What the foundational principles of The Bill of Rights mean to me Feb. 15 th, 2013 Deadline for Submission Feb. 16 th to Feb. 28 th Local Club judges select winner and forward to Region March 8th, 2013 All local winners should be notified March 8th to March 23rd Regional Judges select winners of local clubs and nonsponsored submissions. March 24 th to April 15 th Regional winners essays are submitted to the NCFRW for determination of State winner. April 15 th The State winner is mailed notification by this date, as is the sponsoring club and the student s teacher/school. The winner s name is posted on the NCFRW web-site and announced to all State clubs in the next newsletter. AWARDS Each sponsoring club may present awards, prizes and/or certificates to local winners. The local club will determine such items. The only stipulation is that no individual award of prize may equal or exceed $500 in value. Local clubs may elect to recognize the winner(s) at a meeting or other like event. Local clubs should be clear in all press releases that their winner is a local winner. The State will announce the State winner. Region winners will not be presented with such awards. The Region Vice President, however, may elect to present Region-winning essay writers with certificates. NCFRW will award one prize for the overall State winner of a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond and certificate of accomplishment. The award will be presented at the first Board Meeting following the mailing of notification to the winner, plus thirty days. This will allow sufficient time for 1) winner notification; 2) appropriate press releases; 3) school teacher notification; and 4) planning by the winner and family to attend the award presentation. ~ Page 4 ~
Contest Administration The NCFRW Americanism Essay Contest will be administered by the NCFRW through the NCFRW Essay Chairman. All questions or comments by the clubs and Region Vice Presidents should be forwarded to her. A local chairman or designees should be named who will interact with the local schools on behalf of the local club and the NCFRW. Once named, contact information for this person should be forwarded to the NCFRW Essay Chairman. Local clubs may use the following resources to gather local information about schools for 6 th 7 th and 8 th graders: Local phone directory Local school Boards N. C. public Schools 919 807-3300 Website: http://www.dpi-state.nc.us/internet_resources/ncschools.html North Carolina Directory of Non-Public Schools 9919 733-4276 Web site ~ http://doa.state.nc.us/dnpe/hhh118c.htm Publicity: Local clubs may publicize the contest locally by: Contacting schools and teachers Putting information in the local libraries Press Printing notices in local papers for community events ~ Page 5 ~